My Experience with LinkedIn: LJ 10 (Final)

I have been familiar with LinkedIn for a little over a year now. I don’t scroll through my feed on it very often, but I utilize its other features. I often search and apply for jobs on the platform. It is great about keeping me up to date on job openings. I also use it to expand my network; I can connect with professionals in my desired field of work, ask them questions, and inquire about potential opportunities. It’s also a great place to acquire new skills. They offer many different courses. It is a very useful social media platform, in my opinion. A good LinkedIn profile will attract employers to you, give you credibility, and showcase your strengths.

Though I already had an account created, the final project pushed me to clean up my account. I reworded some of the descriptions in the “Experience” and “Skills” sections. Additionally, prior to this project I had never joined a group on LinkedIn. I joined two marketing groups and two public relations groups. I am excited to see what I get out of joining these groups. Whether it be job opportunities, tips to succeed in the industry, or even just a few new connections, I’m interested to see where it takes me.

I would not say my experiences with social media changed much throughout the semester, but I do think I have become more aware of what my social media presence entails. The material in this course has taught me so much about social media and its behind-the-scenes. I have learned more about how algorithms shape our experiences, how detailed analytics platforms can be, how businesses are investing efforts toward social media innovation and development, our lack of privacy, how social media facilitates the spread of misinformation, how it has changed the entertainment industry, how it is changing the landscape of commerce, and so much more. 

In addition to learning deeply about the different aspects of social media, this course has made me critically think about my relationship with it. I have become more aware of just how reliant I am on social media and how integrated it is in my life. At the beginning of this course, I wrote about how I wanted to use social media less, and I think becoming self-aware will help me do so.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neeharika-pothamsetty-27070419b/

Ecosystem and eWOM: LJ 9

Most people I know, myself included, heavily rely on EWOM in everyday life. For example, if my family and I want to try a new restaurant, we immediately do research on Google and Yelp. If my friends and I want to try out a new entertainment activity (i.e. bowling or mini-golf), we will do the same. If I want to buy new workout gear, I will look for recommendations on TikTok. If I want to watch a movie, I will look through suggestions on social media. I rarely try or buy anything new without referring to social media first. Considering how important it is, “any company engaging in social media marketing, both large and small, should first conceptualize and develop its own version of the social media ecosystem” (Hanna et al. 2011).

The increased use of EWOM makes sense because consumers trust other consumers; “research has shown that eWOM may have higher credibility, empathy and relevance to customers than marketer created sources of information on the Web” (Gruen et al. 2006). It is a natural and understandable tendency to be cautious about the information advertisements give you about a product. They want you to buy the product, so they obviously would not say anything bad about it. It is for this reason that influencer marketing is gaining in popularity. If companies get social media stars (seemingly “normal” people) to positively review their products, it would help increase sales. 

Though I do not follow or engage with many influencers or social media stars, I have been influenced by their content before. I have bought something because of a viral trend or video on TikTok on more occasions than I would like to admit. I do not get influenced much by celebrities because some part of me does not view them as a “common” or “normal” person. I would say I get the most influenced by my friends’ and family’s opinions. They are the “realest” to me, therefore the most trustworthy.

EWOM is vital to a company’s success, and “the combination of both traditional and social mediums allows companies to develop integrated communication strategies to reach consumers on a myriad of platforms, enabling a wide sphere of influence” (Hanna et al. 2011). Properly combining old and new marketing techniques is the key to prosperity.

Gruen, Osmonbekov, T., & Czaplewski, A. J. (2006). eWOM: The impact of customer-to-customer online know-how exchange on customer value and loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 59(4), 449–456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2005.10.004

Hanna, R., Rohm, A., & Crittenden, V. L. (2011, February 16). We're all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem. Business Horizons. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007681311000243